


Cold

by Restekel



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Cold, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Sick Character, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 09:30:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16015130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Restekel/pseuds/Restekel
Summary: Callum gets sick during a snowstorm, Rayla and Ezran try to help him.





	Cold

Callum wasn't prepared to get sick on their journey, but it didn't help that he had first been covered in an avalanche, and then having half his body dunked into a frozen lake trying to rescue his brother.

Not getting much food, water, or sleep didn't help either.

So maybe he wasn't feeling the greatest, they needed to save the egg, thats all that mattered at the moment, his health could come after.

Rayla decided to take the snowy path again, saying something about how it was easier to avoid people on the path that looked less appeasing to travel on.

They were half way up the mountain when the first wave of dizziness hit him, Callum stumbled and stopped for a few seconds to regain his balance, putting his hands on kids knees to stabilize his body, and get his breathing under control.

"Rayla, I think we should stop for a few minutes."

"We have to keep going, that egg doesn't have much time left." 

She made a point, he just had to keep going and hope that he could make it. They continued walking up hill, the air getting colder the higher they got.

Callum started shivering, black spots blocking his vision every few minutes, he knew they wouldn't make it without him ruining everything like always.

He looked and felt terrible, his nose and cheeks were a bright shade of red, his lips were already turning blue, while the rest of his face rivalled the paleness of a ghost, his walking was uncoordinated and he stumbled around a lot.

He listened to Rayla's and Ezran's conversation trying to get his mind off of the cold and dizziness. He stopped listening to what they were saying once his ears started ringing.

Vision blurring Callum tried to call out but all he was able to say was a small mumble before he fell to his knees, as the rest of him hit the snow.

Rayla and Ezran didn't even hear him.

The two continued walking up the hill, they only noticed Callum was missing when Ezran asked him a question, Ezran looked behind him to notice that his brother wasn't there.

"Where'd your brother go?" Rayla asked.

"I don't know. we should look for him though, he could be in trouble."

Walking back down the hill they called for Callum over and over again Ezran holding Bait as light to help him see in the heavy snow fall.

After five minutes Ezran spoke with sorrow written all over his face. "Rayla what if we don't find Callum?" 

"We will, we have to." She said with determination in her voice.

They spent another two minutes searching before Rayla called out that she had found him.

They both rushed over to Callum who was laying on his side, partially buried in the snow.

"Is he ok?" Ezran asked getting closer to his brother.

"He's alive, but we need to get him out of the cold, and soon, he doesn't look good." Rayla tried to get her arms underneath Callum, but winced as she moved her left hand.

"Help me carry him Ezran, I can't do it with my hand, I spotted a cave a few miles up, we can make camp there."

Ezran quickly got underneath of his brothers right arm while Rayla was underneath his left, they dragged him up into the cave and started a fire.

Rayla gasped at Callum when she saw what he looked like in the light of the fire.

"How is he?" Ezran asked, hesitantly walking towards the two.

"He's so pale, and I can barely feel his pulse, I don't even know if he's going to be ok." Rayla said with despair.

Ezran sat next to his brother and put his hand onto Callum's arm, he shivered at how cold he was. "Callum? Please wake up, I can't lose you too." Ezran said tears dripping down his face.

"All we can do is wait for him to warm up Ez, we can't do much with this snowfall." She sighed before speaking again. "How's the egg?"

"It's not doing good, it's dying, we need to get it help soon." Ezran replied, still holding onto his brother.

"We can't get help until this storm passes."

"And when Callum is ok." Ezran defended.

"And when Callum's ok." Rayla repeated.

\----------------

__Callum was back at the castle, wait, wasn't he just climbing a mountain with Ez and Rayla? But when did he get home? And where was everybody? There were no guards, no servants, it was just... him._ _

__

__"Hello?" He called out, searching for anybody, they never left the castle unguarded even the courtyard was empty._ _

_Callum started walking around, just noticing now how cold it was, even inside of the castle, they never let it get this cold._

_"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" He called out again._

_He turned quickly when he saw a shadowed future run from behind him. He stayed frozen in the hall for a few seconds before sighing and walking after the figure._

_"This is a really bad idea." He said out loud to himself._

_He turned down the corridor that the mysterious figure had gone down, calling again for any kind of response while walking down the corridor._

_Callum heard a shuffle in the room next to him, which happened to be the throne room._

_"Callum?" He hadn't heard that voice in years, he looked over to see his mom, Queen Sarai, Callum gaped, not thinking of what to say._

_"Why are you here? You shouldn't be here Callum." Sarai said walking forward towards her son._

_"Why am I here? You died, I should be asking why your here."_

_"I cannot say why I am here, only that you need to leave." Sarai said putting her hand on her sons shoulder._

_Sarai looked up quickly as the shadow figure passed by again, looking back down at her son and seeing what he looked like in the real world, before he flickered back into his normal appearance._

_"We need to go."_

_"Wait, Mom you can't do that, you need to tell me what's going on."_

_"I don't have time to explain."_

_Sarai grabbed Callum's hand and started running through the halls, dragging Callum behind her, she could sense the figure tracking them, or more likely tracking Callum._

_She knew what was happening, and who was chasing them, she just couldn't tell Callum, for the sake of him._

_The figure jumped out in front of them, Sarai shielding her son from behind her._

_"Mom? Who's that?"_

_"A reaper."_

__

__

\---------------------------

"He's not getting better Rayla, it's been half an hour." 

"He's not going to wake up immediately, and it doesn't help we don't have that many supplies to help him with."

"He will wake up... Right?" Ezran asked, desperate to help his brother.

Callum looked half dead, he wasn't warming up fast enough, his cheeks and nose were a bright shade of red, and his lips had turned blue, and he was so so pale, she was scared for him, she didn't even know how long he had been lying down unconscious in the snow for. 

"I- I don't know Ez." She sat next to Ezran, wrapping her arm round his shoulder as he rested against her.

It was her fault, Callum had asked to rest, and even then she noticed how his voice was slurred and shaky, she passed it of on the cold and the hard work of climbing the mountain, she didn't even look back to answer him, she just kept going, thinking of the egg, and how important it was at that moment.

How idiotic could she be not to even notice that he wasn't behind the both of them, how she hadn't noticed the bags underneath of his eyes the hours before, how he had started sneezing and coughing after the lake episode.

It was all her fault that one of her only friends could die, how the child next to her could lose his brother, his only living family, and how the kingdom of Katolis could lose another member of the royal family.

Tears started dripping down her face, she didn't deserve to have these two in her life, she always ruined everything she cared about, it was about time that life took away something else important to her.

"It's not your fault Rayla." Ezran told her, still snuggled into her chest, with one hand on Callum's arm.

"But it is, if we had rested like he had asked instead of continuing we wouldn't be in this situation right now."

"It's my fault too then, I was thinking of the fate of the egg more than the people around me, I should have at least noticed when Callum wasn't behind me anymore."

"Ez, none of this is your fault, that choice shouldn't have rested on the shoulders of a ten year old."

"And your only sixteen Rayla, we all have to look out for each other, we just weren't thinking correctly at the time."

"This all of our fault then."

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, we can't live in the past though, we need to look to the future to help Callum in any way possible."

They both sat in silence next to their friend cuddled up together.

\--------------------

_Callum and Sarai backed away from the reaper, Sarai keeping Callum behind her. The reaper inched closer._

_Callum's eyes were blown wide in fear, he had read about reapers and how they took dying souls away from the earth._

_"Im dying, arn't I?" Callum stated out in the open, he could see his mom flinch before she nodded her head._

_"There has to be a way for me to get back. Right?"_

_"There is, you have to find the right door, I've helped many dying soldiers get back to their families, you need to find the door into the room that holds the most sentimental value to you."_

_"The most sentimental value? What do you mean by that?"_

_"A room in the castle that has good memories, that you feel the most connected to."_

_Callum thought for a moment, about a room with memorable moment in his life, he thought about all the rooms in the castle, his mind stopped on the one he knew would be the room out._

_"I know where I need to go."_

_"I can hold off the reaper for a little bit." "I love you Callum, I miss you everyday, be safe."_

_"I love you too mom." Callum took one last glance at his mother before sprinting off to the throne room, the room where he had first met King Harrow, where his life changed for the better._

_When he got there the door to the room was closed._

_Callum inhaled before stepping inside._

\------------------------

Ezran and Rayla were starting to lose hope, it had been an hour and Callum still hadn't shown any signs of improving.

Ezran pleaded with anything that his brother would be ok, and Rayla had stayed next to Callum trying to keep him warm.

They had both supported each other, Ezran falling asleep with his head on her lap from an adrenaline crash, Rayla stayed awake to make sure she could help Callum in any way possible.

Rayla was about to shut her eyes when she heard Callum mumble from in front of her.

"Callum?" She shook him a little bit to see if he would wake up, to her pleasure his eyes started to crinkle, and he started to shiver.

"Callum, wake up, I know you can." Rayla started to regain her hope that Callum would be ok.

"Rayla?" Callum slurred opening his eyes a sliver and turning his head to look at her, Rayla internally jumped for joy at seeing Callum awake.

She quickly shook Ezran awake, she knew that he would want to see his brother.

"Rayla? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong Ez, Callum's awake!" Ezran woke up fully and looked towards his brother who was confused about what was going on.

"CALLUM!" Ezran jumped out of Rayla's grip and hugged his brother like he was loosing him again.

"Hey Ez." Callum mumbled.

"Please don't do that again." Ezran hugged his brother tighter as tears streamed down his face.

"I'll try not to." He said, shivering harder as he started to regain semi consciousness. 

''Let's get you closer to the fire, your shaking to hard i'm afraid you might chip a tooth."

Callum snickered as he moved next to the fire, Ezran wouldn't let go of his arm,not that he minded, while Rayla maneuvered herself on the other side of him.

He felt at home next to an elf and his half brother as they watched the fire dance and swirl together.

**Author's Note:**

> I just watched the Dragon Prince, and it is so freaking good, in honour of this new show, I needed some whump.  
> Please excuse my shitty writing, I just wanted to get something out


End file.
